The Hunt for Supplies
by PercyJacksonLover14
Summary: School is only two weeks away, and Tony hasn't even started to shop. When he gets a phone call from his favorite redhead, he realizes that it is a lot more complicated that he thought. Physically and mentally.


**Um… Hello… Uh… Yeah.**

 **Wanna hear my excuse? Yeah… so I was all like "Summer! Plenty of time!" But in reality, college preparation is a lot harder than I thought. I spent the last couple of weeks (months… PercyJacksonLover14, don't kid yourself) just researching and buying and talking! It took up most of my day just doing a lot of research and shopping, but I had a perfect excuse to stay home because of this challenge!**

 **So BEHOLD! This story is for The Music Of The Night's "Back to School Challenge." I encourage ALL of you guys to participate in this! Challenges are the best way to test your writing skill, plus it's fun to be part of a community of people writing for the same "category" so to speak! So pick up your… keyboard? And get typing!**

 **Hope y'all like it!**

 **Disclaimer: I don't own anything but my story!**

The phone call came around noon, just as Tony was about to take in a mouthful of his peanut butter and jelly sandwich. With a frown stretching across his face, Tony set his lunch down and hunted for his cell phone.

"Yeah! I hear you!" He muttered as the constant nagging of his phone lured him closer. "There you are." Tony checked the caller ID and felt his heart flutter. Pepper was calling, and her silly cross-eyed picture was the first thing Tony saw, before he swiped his finger across the screen.

Almost automatically, Tony kept the phone about two-inches from his ear and greeted his redheaded friend. "Well hello, madam." He heard a series of giggles and patted himself on the back for such a clever greeting.

 _"Good day to you, sir!"_ Her voice chimed from the phone _. "I haseth a question!"_

Tony placed the phone against his shoulder, and lowered his ear to support the device as he walked back to his table to gather his forgotten lunch. He picked up the sandwich and took a bite out of it before answering, "And what would that be?"

 _"You know school's starting in like 2 weeks right?"_

"Right."

 _"Have you got your supplies yet?"_

Tony stopped chewing. Well, no, he hadn't even thought of it. Because for one, he didn't bother about school, all he really needed was his brain and a pencil. And two, he was too lazy.

 _"I'm guessing, no, judging by your silence Mr. Lazy Butt."_ Pepper's voice teased.

"Hey! I was busy these last few months! It's not all rainbows and sunshine being Iron Man!" Tony swallowed and padded his way to his room, frowning at Pepper's nickname: Mr. Lazy Butt.

He could almost feel Pepper roll her eyes. _"Yeah, well it's been quiet for like a month now. You always say you're busy, but I'm thinking you're just busy watching some TV and eating that chocolate ice cream in your fridge."_

Tony frowned again, feeling his cheeks heat up in an embarrassed blush. "What do you want, Pepper?" He said, cutting straight to the conversation. This girl was too good at embarrassing him.

 _"Well, I haven't gotten my supplies yet, and since Rhodey, who I'd rather take anyway, is busy, I was wondering if you would like to come with me?"_

Tony quickly thought about his plans for the rest of the day. TV, snack, TV, computer game, Iron Man upgrade, TV, night watch, and TV. "Looks like you're in luck, Pepper. I'm not busy today."

A snort. _"Please, you're never busy. Okay, come get me around 1?"_

"Sounds good. Bye Pepper." Tony said between gritted teeth.

 _"BYE!"_

Tony sighed, putting down his sandwich. He wasn't hungry anyway. It was 12:07, so he had plenty of time before having to meet Pepper at her apartment. Tony went to the bathroom, after getting his jeans and his favorite red shirt. He knew he smelled, he didn't even need to bother doing a test smell, so he peeled himself out of his pajamas, and turned the shower on.

He waited two seconds and stepped in, relishing the soft patter of the shower water. It was at the perfect temperature too, so Tony wasted no time in cleaning himself.

After about ten minutes, he turned the water off, and dried himself off. Slipping into his clothes, Tony then whipped his hair into his signature look, and sprayed some cologne.

"This'll do." Tony murmured looking at his reflection in the steamy mirror.

Tony slipped into his bedroom, and gathered his things for the afternoon. His watch read 12:34, which gave him plenty of time to take another bite of his sandwich and grab his wallet and keys.

He was walking to Pepper's apartment at 12:45.

…

The weather was hot, and Tony instantly regretted not wearing his shorts. _Oh well, I'll take sweating over not smelling good_ , Tony thought with a shake of his head.

Tony reached Pepper's apartment, and texted her that he arrived. She responded with, "Don't bother coming up, I'll be done in a minute." Tony pondered, wondering if she really meant a minute, or if it will take a couple of hours. It definitely didn't take hours, because Pepper came down, sporting jean shorts and a v-neck pink shirt.

"TONY!" She screamed, a smile on her face. She ran at him, and Tony let out a laugh as he grabbed her in his arms and twirled her around in the air.

After he put her down, he realized that there was a goofy smile on his face, and also realized that he didn't really care. "So what's the plan, Pep?" Tony asked walking beside Pepper. Her handbag bounced on her hip as she practically skipped down the sidewalk.

"School shopping! Not long before senior year starts! I bet we're taking the same classes, so I figured we start from the bottom."

Tony stared at her for a while. Taking note of her high pony tail, and her toned legs. Now he really regretted staying home for the past couple of months. Now that he thought about it, it was a miracle he hadn't gained a pound from eating all that junk this summer.

"What would the bottom be?" He asked, casually slipping his hands into his pockets.

Pepper slung her arm through his, putting a finger to her lip. "Well, like 'supplies'. The generic: pencils, pens, paper, backpack, lunchbox."

"I'm not really sure, Pepper. That's why I'm asking. I never went shopping for school before." Tony remarked blushing a little.

Pepper looked at him, wide- eyed. "Nuh- uh! No way! Come on!"

Tony gave her a shrug. "I was homeschooled before, remember?"

"Ah… that's right." She recalled. "Well don't you worry! You're gonna _love_ doing this! It's SO MUCH FUN!" Tony stiffened at her words, "so much fun", which only meant that she was going to drag him everywhere she wanted.

"Oh boy." Tony muttered under his breath.

…

They first walked into a department store. Pepper immediately grasped his hand and yanked him to the back of the store, where a large cartoon pencil hung from the ceiling, a speech bubble saying, "Back to School!" was next to its smiling mouth. She quickly grabbed the nearest, empty, shopping cart and rolled into the school section of the store.

Pepper walked around, her eyes quickly searching at all the supplies that were laid out in front of her. Tony followed behind closely, also scanning the supplies. He noticed how Pepper's eyes lit up at anything that was remotely sparkly or glittery, and let out a sigh.

"Well, I ran out of pencils, so how about we start there?" Pepper asked turning to him. Tony hadn't seen Pepper in over a month, and he couldn't believe how fit she became. He jokingly told her to work out the, beginning of summer, if she wanted her own suit, and sure enough she followed his instructions. Her arms had toned down, almost to the point where her biceps were showing. She became thinner on her sides, meaning she thinned out her abdomen, heck even her legs were toned!

Not only Tony, but also other guys were starting to notice her physique. She definitely was a stunner, even in shorts and a plain pink shirt.

Tony looked down at the hazel eyes and nodded. "Sure, just tell me what to do, I guess." He subconsciously rubbed the back of his neck. Pepper was quick with her decisions, strangely enough, and hardly talked as she placed things into the cart.

"I'm done with mine, did you get anything?" She rested her forearms on the carts handle, and watched Tony as he dropped his own supplies into the basket. Pepper ran her eyes across the items and nodded encouragingly. "Great! I got nothing else on my list."

Tony glanced up at her. "Wait, this is it? We're done?"

Pepper nodded, wheeling the cart to the front. After checking out, Pepper handed the bags to Tony, who didn't say a word as he took them into his hands. "So… Nothing more?"

"Yeah, we're done with shopping."

Tony was slightly confused. He could've sworn that Pepper would've dragged him around for even longer. "Okay, I guess I'll walk you home, then."

Pepper whirled on her heels, a bewildered look on her face. "Are you nuts?! We're done with school _supplies_ shopping, not school _clothes_ shopping!"

Tony nearly dropped all the bags in his hands. "Clothes?! Pepper, you have tons of clothes! I took you out a month ago for clothes!"

Pepper turned again, forcing Tony to follow. "Yeah! But those are so one-month ago! Shy&Tye just released their new line of summer and fall dresses! We have to go there. I barely got any dresses."

"Oh come on, Pepper! I only said yes to the school supply shopping! Besides you got tons of dresses!" Tony whined. He knew he wouldn't win this argument, but that didn't mean he would go done without a fight.

"Tony! I only have eight! That's totally not enough! Now stop yapping, it's right around the corner."

The instant they entered the store, Tony's will power fell at the sight of girls running around inside the store. There were dresses and shirts and pants piled in their hands as they rushed into the nearest dressing room.

But Pepper seemed to know what to do, because she walked to the back and walked to the "Clearance" section first. "Everyone's at the Shy&Tye section now, but just watch, after about an hour, it'll die down and then we can go attack!" Pepper started to dig through the clothes, and Tony stood behind her, feeling ridiculous as he held the supply bags in his hands.

He walked to a cash register and asked the lady behind the desk if he could place the bags behind the counter. The lady was really busy, but she took the moment to smile at him and nod.

Coming back empty handed, Tony watched as Pepper pulled out a shirt, made a face and shoved the hanger back into place. "Want to help?" She asked, riffling through more shirts.

"What do you want me to look for?" Tony asked, already stepping up to the next clearance rack.

Pepper muttered under her breath about the ridiculous clothing and said, "Whatever you think will look good on me."

 _Everything then_. Tony thought, and hunted for some shirts.

True to her word, an hour later, the girls in the store had vanished to just a trickle. Pepper grinned and bolted to the Shy&Tye section and yanked out the first dress.

"This is so CUTE! This will totally be the perfect dress for the first day of school!" Pepper commented hugging the dress to her dress. After three more, she quickly found the dressing room, and made her way there.

"You can judge me." Pepper said, opening one of the doors.

Tony looked at her alarmed. "What? Judge you?"

Pepper nodded, hanging the hangers on the hook. She grabbed the handle on the inside of the door. "Yeah, just sit over there. I'll come out and you can tell me what you think."

Tony agreed, and sat down on the white leather couch that was outside the dressing room doors. Underneath each door, there was enough room for Tony to see Pepper's shorts fall to the ground. He looked away, blushing. _Snap out of it, Stark. She's your friend. Right? No…? Yes… Yes! Maybe… Yeah… maybe._ Either way, he couldn't help but peek a glance as her legs glided up and then slammed down as she shimmied into her first dress.

He heard the lock unclasp and his breath caught in his throat. Pepper came out in a fit and flare dress. The bodice was fitted, and plain pink, then the white skirt was flared with embroidered flowers all around the skirt.

First word that came to his head: stunning.

"Well?" Pepper asked, striking a pose. She turned around, giving Tony the look of the dress from behind, and he had to admit, it was perfect.

"It's nice." Was all he could manage to say though.

Pepper's face fell. "'Nice?' That's it? Man, I really liked this one!" She slipped into the dressing room again, before Tony could fix his judgment.

After two more stunning dresses, Pepper came out, her face pouty. "Well, that's okay, I guess. This season's dresses weren't _all_ great." She carried the dresses to the racks, but Tony finally steeled his nerves.

"They looked incredible on you, Pepper. Every dress was stunning on you. I—I thought you looked beautiful in them. I know for sure people are gonna approach you on the first day of school, if you just wore one of them."

Pepper paused midway to the clothing racks. She didn't face him, but whispered. "What did you say?"

Tony placed his hands on her shoulder, delicately turning her to face him. This had to be the moment, because his big mouth told her what he thought of her, so he might as well continue on. "You're beautiful, Pepper. You're the perfect girl, and I'm head over heels in love with you. I have been for a long time."

Pepper was still blank faced, but asked, "What about Whitney?"

It was like a slap to the face, but that didn't stop Tony, because he knew exactly what to say, "She was a distraction. I just liked you too much, and I felt like it was interfering with my everyday work, so I thought if I dated Whitney, it would help me get my mind off of you. But—uh—well it didn't really work."

Pepper's eyes finally met his, and Tony saw them sparkle. A smile curved onto her lips, and she tilted her chin up, leaning up to him. Tony leaned down, meeting her lips halfway. The kiss lasted for a while before Pepper pulled back. "Funny, because that's exactly why I dated Happy. I was jealous, but also needed to think of someone else but you."

"Well then, I would like to think that we are officially together? I mean we didn't really have a first date or anything."

Pepper giggled, threading her fingers through Tony's. "Yeah, well, that doesn't really matter. I'm just glad this is the way we're going to start off the school year. Together."

Tony felt his heart swell in joy. "Yeah me too."

"But you know what this means right?"

"What?"

Pepper looked at him, "You'll have to think of the first date."

Tony frowned. "Well, duh, what about that?"

A smirk spread across Pepper's lips, making Tony real nervous. "I'll need to find a dress for that too."

"NO!"

 **Not sure how to end it, but I did! Hope you liked this remarkably long story! I did my very best, and in fact I got the idea today while taking a shower. No correlation between the two, I know, but every author has their own way ya know?**

 **Is it just me, or do y'all love to go school shopping?! I think it's SO MUCH FUN! I don't even know why. The shopping is fun, but the school isn't. -_-**

 **Anyway… please review what you thought of this story! I would love to hear some feedback!**

 **Question of the… update…. (man that sounds dumb): What's your favorite school supply?**

 **REVIEW! 3**


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